Roofing



Nov. 2, 1937. L, SNOW 2,097,845

ROOFING Filed June 26, 1934 gill IHHHI I I Z0 /8 w ATTORNEY PatentedNov. 2, 1937 r V UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ROOFING Laney Snow,Noroton, Conn. Application June 26, 1934, Serial No. 732,396

2 Claims. (Cl. 108-9) The present invention relates to' roofing andplace, acourse of undereave slate 20 is laid, being has particularreference to roofing construction retained in place by nails 22 passingthrough for slate roofs. suitable holes in the upper corners of theslate.

principal object of the invention is the pro The slate for this courseis relatively narrow, 5 vision of improved slate roofing constructionutipreferably being about 7 inches wide. It will be hang a novelarrangement of slates and roofing evident from Fig. 1 that thefoundation sheets felt or the like whereby the amount of slate reneednot all be laid before the laying of slate is quired to cover a givenroof area is greatly recommenced, and the bottom sheet of foundationduced as compared with the usual form of slate felt may be unrolled fromthe usual roll and laid 0 roof construction, while at the same'timeproprogressively ahead of theslate as the latter is 10 viding fullprotection against leakage of water nailed in place, the nails for theslate serving to or air through the roof. A further object is the anchorthe foundation sheet in place. provision of a roof of the abovecharacter that Over the course of undereave slate 20 a filler 1s simplein construction and that may be insheet 24 of roofing felt is laid. Thissheet is stalled easily and with the minimum amount of preferably ofstandard width of 18 inches and the 15 labor by those having only theordinary amount lower edge 26 of the sheet is preferably placed ofskill, and which does not involve the cost of va short di ta c above thelower edge the 'prefabrication of roof units in order to secureundereave slate 20. ease and simplicity of application. A still fur-Over the sheet 24 the lower course 28 of roof ther object of theinvention is the provision of a slate is laid, this course consisting ofslate of the 20 20 roof construction of the above character that widthto be used for the whole roof and being y be applied readily to any formor contour materially narrower than the slate used in ordiof roof whereordinary slate roof construction is y Slate roof censtruetien-Preferably the applicable. x slate 28 is approximately 10 inches wide.As will Other and more detailed objects of the invenbe evident r m Fsthe fi l Sheet 24 and 25 tion, together with the advantages to bederived the course of slate 28 may be laid progressively from its use,will become evident from a conand substantially together, the slate 28being resideration of the ensuing description of a pretained y ails 30passing through e pp ferred form of roof construction embodying thecorners of the Slate and Serving t0 anchor the 30 invention which isillustrated in the accompanysheet ing drawing, in which I A secondfiller sheet 32, of the same width as Fig. 1 is a plan view of a,portion of a, 1 sheet 24, is laid over the upper exposed portionembodying the invention and illustrating a preof Sheet a the upp p r i no e ou e ferred mode of application, and of slate 28, covering andextending for some dis- Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 2-2 oftehee below the h d f 8 30. 35

Fig. 1. Over the lower portion of the filler sheet 32 Referring nowto'the drawing, It indicate th the second course of slate 34 is laid,the lower wood roof sheathing which may be of different d e o thiscourse p rab y exte di a short forms of construction but which is shownas of distance below the lower e of S e 32 a the usual tongue-and-groovesiding. Over the shown in the drawing. The course of slate 34 is 40sheathing "1- there is laid the foundation conretained y nails 36passing throu h t e filler sisting of sheets l2 of suitably impregnat droofsheets 24 and 32 and also through the foundaing felt or the like.Sheets l2 are advantageously tion sheet of standard width, for example,36 inches, and The third filler sheet s d ove t e upp r are overlappedas at ll, preferably about 4 inches.

As many courses of foundation fen; r employed course of slate 34, andthe third course of slate as may be necessary to cover the area, t be40, retained by nails 42, is laid over sheet 38 in a roofed. In the caseof a. ridged roof the foundamanner sim r o h alre dy described wi h tionfelt is preferably carried over the ridge on respect to S e 32 a Slateportion of sheet 32 and the upper portion of the 45 t each side toprovide a double thickness for a Similarly the slate courses 44, 46 and48, re- 50 distance of 6 inches or so on each siqe'of the tained bynails 50, 52 and 54, are laid over assoridge. A cant strip I6 ispreferably employed ciated filler sheets 56, 58 and 60, and the conat oradjacent to the cave line I8, over which struction continued inlikemanner for as many the bottom sheet of foundation felt is laid. coursesas may be required to cover the desired 55 With the bottom'sheet offoundation felt in area. 55

The several courses of slate are laid in overlapping relation so that arelatively narrow portion of each course is covered by the adjacentcourse. For example, if slate of -inch width is employed the slate ispreferably laid so that 6 to 7 inches of each course is exposed in thefinished roof. Thus, as will be evident from the drawing, each fillersheet underlies two full courses of slate and partially underlies athird course. Consequently, under the joints between courses, as forexample at 62, there are 4 thicknesses of felt sheeting, at this pointconsisting of the sheets 56, 38, 32 and I2.

Furthermore, at the joints between adjacent slates "of the same course,as at 64, there is provided the protection afforded by 3 or 4thicknesses of felt.

As is well known, leakage tends to occur due to the beating of rainupwardly under the lower exposed edges of the different courses ofslate, and such leakage is effectively prevented with the constructionjust described, not only because of the sealing action of the loweredges of the several filler sheets which are in effect clamped betweenadjacent courses of slate, but also because of the fact that the lowerportion of each filler sheet covers and effectively seals the holes inthe underlying course of slate through which the nails pass.

it enables the roof to be laid with the minimum of labor.

Obviously the degree of skill required to lay the roof properly is notgreat, and in addition to the cost advantage due to the saving in theamount of slate required to roof a given area, the saving in labor ascompared with ordinary construction The brittle characteristic ofnatural slate is such that chipping and the like inevitably is verysubstantial, and is in fact comparable to the labor charge incident tothe laying of prefabri- The advantages to bederived from the use of theinvention are greatest when it is made use of with natural slate, but itis to be understood that the invention is capable of application withother materials such as ceramics or synthetic compositions and as towhich the term slate as used herein may be considered as applying.

It will further be understood that the term roofing felt as employedherein is used in a descriptive and not limiting sense.

What I claim is:

1. A roof the major portion of which is covered by slate of a singlethickness underlaid by a dual thickness of roll roofing felt, said rollroofing felt being laid in smooth strips with individual slate shinglesindependently applied thereupon in a manner to form a course, said slateshingles being disposed in slightly overlapping staggered relation tothe slate shingles of an adjacent course, and each strip of roll roofingfelt having its lower portion substantially co-extensive with the bottomline of the course of slate shingles and its upper portion above theupper line of the next superposed course of slate shingles.

2. Roof construction comprising alternate layers of roll roofing feltand slate, the roll roofing felt being laid in smooth strips and theslate being independently laid in courses of individual pieces upon saidstrips and the pieces of slate of one course being staggered relative tothe pieces of slate of the adjacent course and slightly overlapping thesame, the arrangement of roll roofing felt and slate providing aroofwhich has slate of a single thickness over its major portionunderlaid with a double thickness of roll roofing felt, the lowerportion of each strip of roll roofing felt being substantiallycoextensive with the lower extremities of the individual pieces of slateforming the course, and the upper portion of said strip of roll roofingfelt extending above the upper extremities of the slate forming the nextcourse

